Sutton's mind rells as wives two and three ask him for a very great personal and professional favor and wife one chacks in for a serious medical problem. Kate anxiously awaits news of who will be appointed as the new head of surgery. Dr. Shutt performs delicate surgery on a wealthy quadriplegic who cannot be anesthetized, and whose beautiful fiance attracts Nyland's attention.

Ann Hodges

This season's best series. ... It's extremely well-written, and the operating scenes are so realistic that you may cover your eyes. It's life-and-death drama but leavened with a little dark humor. And it works. [17 Sep 1994]

John Engstrom

Marvin Kitman

The characters in "Hope" are slightly more interesting [than those in "ER"]. Even though they are working in a high-powered hospital and have God-like powers, you can see what's going on behind their masks beyond their eyes. [18 Sep 1994]

Gail Pennington

Matt Roush

Like St. Elsewhere grafted onto L.A. Law, this is in the slick but endangered tradition of ensemble dramas showing heroes on the cutting edge of their vocation while personal lives entangle and unravel. [16 Sep 1994]

Ken Parish Perkins

Robert Bianco

Kelley has a great gift for establishing his plots quickly, and for bringing them to powerful conclusions. Like '[L.A.] Law' and '[Picket] Fences,' however, 'Hope' is an oddly self-contained universe -- despite the show's reliance on social issues, it's hard to imagine any of these people actually functioning in the real world. [17 Sep 1994]

Richard Zoglin

Howard Rosenberg

Glimmers of good acting peep through this maze of melodrama. Yet "St. Elsewhere" practiced more interesting medicine, and Kelley's Emmy-laden "Picket Fences" is bolder and more likable. More significant, so is "ER."